South Beach (a.k.a. SoBe) in Miami Beach, Florida, wasn’t always a playground for the rich and famous. One hundred years ago the area’s original developers envisioned a mid-sized ocean front city of modest single family homes.

Today, not so much.

The 1920s real estate bubble attracted millionaires and speculators.  The 1930s brought an architectural Art Deco revolution, a development trend that gives the city it’s character and sense of place today.

But it was TV that really put South Beach on the map: The Jackie Gleason Show in the 1960s, later Crockett and Tubbs solving crimes in Miami Vice.

Today, South Beach is one of the U.S.’s most international destinations:  English is the first language of only 33% of the residents.

In 2009 Natalie O’Neill of the Miami New Times commented: “Until the 1980s, Miami Beach was a peculiar mix of criminals, Cubans, and little old ladies. Then the beautiful people moved in.”

There are more pictures from Miami Beach here.

As usual, California leads the nation.  The good citizens of the Golden State have discovered a nefarious plot by the communist Chinese to infiltrate our schools and brainwash our children.  It works like this.

The Confucius Institute, a non-profit funded by the Chinese government, is supplying a language and culture curriculum for U.S. middle schools. Sure, cash-strapped schools get free lesson plans and materials to help students study Chinese – but what’s the real price?

Fortunately, the ever-alert citizens of Hacienda Heights, California, have recognized this program for what it is: A communist plot to brainwash our children.

Jon Stewart, America’s best journalist, produced this expose explaining it all.

Meanwhile, all Americans are warned to avoid Chinese food, Chinese laundries, and yes, Chinese checkers.  All could lead to communist sympathies.

Remember, the Department of Homeland Security wants you to know the threat level is orange.

Meanwhile, avoid looking at these pictures of those involved in the communist plot:

There are more pictures of Beijing here. (View them at your own risk).

Not that long ago, on February 27, 2010, a massive earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter Scale rocked the Chilean coast south of Santiago.  Since then, public awareness has shifted to dozens of other problems, other tragedies.

The Chilean government has estimated it may take 3-4 years to completely recover and rebuild. But that doesn’t mean travelers should stay away from Santiago, a stylish gateway to a beautiful country.

You can read about up-to-date travel conditions in Chile on this blog.

With oil bearing down on the remarkable white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle, we hopped a Southwest flight to the newly opened Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City Beach.

Two and a half hours after we left BWI, we pulled in to Seaside, Florida, a place many recognize as the location where The Truman Show was filmed.  In fact, Seaside is famous for another reason:  It is considered one of the best examples of New Urbanism anywhere in the world.  Time called it “the most astounding design achievement of its era and, one might hope, the most influential.”

An unspeakable tragedy is unfolding in slow-motion along the Gulf Coast, and if black tar washes up on Northwest Florida’s pristine white sand beaches, we will have done damage to a very special place.

There are more pictures of Seaside and Northwest Florida here.

According to Plato, Atlantis was a naval power lying “in front of the Pillars of Hercules.” The city-state conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9600 BC.

After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean “in a single day and night of misfortune.”

The Atlantis of legend is intriguing.  Today’s reality is more pedestrian, if no more fantastical: It’s become a pair of over-the-top resorts, one in the Bahamas, the other in Dubai.

There are more pictures of Atlantis here.

Sensō-ji is an ancient Buddhist temple located in Asakusa, Tokyo. It is the city’s oldest temple, and one of its most significant.

Within the temple itself, and at many places on its approach, there are omikuji stalls. For a suggested donation of 100 yen, visitors may consult the oracle and divine answers to their questions.

Querents shake labelled sticks from enclosed metal containers and read the corresponding answers they retrieve from one of 100 possible drawers.

More stories and pictures from Japan.

Uluru, the World Heritage Site formerly known as Ayers Rock, is one of the world’s most recognizable natural icons – and along with the Sydney Opera House, an international symbol for Australia.

The sandstone monolith is culturally significant to the Anangu aborigines, the traditional landowners of Uluru.

In 1873 surveyor William Gosse, on an expedition to plot the route for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line, “discovered” Uluṟu.

In a move also known as “sucking up to the boss,” Gosse named the monolith Ayers Rock in honour of the then-Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.

One hundred and twenty years later, the Australian government adopted a dual naming policy, allowing places to use both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name.

So today you can soak in the split personality of this oddly moving place, marveling at Uluru while staying at Ayers Rock Resort.

More Uluru pictures here.

Cambodian monks journey each year to Angkor Wat, near Siem Reap, for meditation, reflection and renewal.

The initial design of Angkor Wat’s main temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II, in the early 1100s. Originally a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, it was built to serve as the Khmer Empire‘s capital city.

In the late 13th century, Srindravarman deposed his father-in-law, King Jayavarman VIII, who was Hindu.

Srindravarman was an ordained Buddhist monk, so when he took power he converted the Khmer Empire’s official religion from Hindu to Buddhist – and the Temples of Angkor became Buddhist shrines.  They remain so today.

More Angkor Wat pictures here.

Jujuy, north of Salta, is Argentina’s northernmost province and it shares a rugged border with Bolivia. Life here moves at its own pace: Adobe villages bake beneath multicolored cliffs; llamas wander the foothills; and villagers seek shade under scraggly trees and towering cacti.

The road through the Quebrada de Humahuaca (Humahuaca Canyon) leads to a string of indigenous towns. In Purmamarca, the Hill of Seven Colors (Cerro de Siete Colores) rises behind the town to form a geologic rainbow.

Further on, in the whitewashed town of Humahuaca, visitors are encouraged to gather in the central square just before noon. At midday, a clockwork saint known as San Francisco Solano appears from the church tower, mechanically blessing the assembled pilgrims below.

More Salta pictures and Argentina stories.

For centuries local Andean Indians have honored Cotopaxi (“Throne of Moon”) as  a sacred mountain and worshiped it as the “rain sender” that made the land fertile.

Adventurous mountain bikers begin their decent of Cotopaxi just as the weather arrives.  The bikers begin their descent near the summit, a place once revered as a home of the gods.

More Ecuador stories here.